


Breakdowns and Broken Bones

by IttyBittyBones



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst with a Happy Ending, Anxiety, Bara Papyrus (Undertale), Bara Sans (Undertale), Bara Skeletons, Depression, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, Explicit Sexual Content, How Do I Tag, Mental Health Issues, Multi, Physical Abuse, Reader Is Half Monster???, Reader Is Not Chara (Undertale), Reader Is Not Frisk (Undertale), Reader is non-binary, Reader is not named, Reverse Harem??, Sexual Content, Small reader, Suicide Attempt, Tags Are Hard, Tags May Change, Unhealthy Relationships, reader has vagina
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-08
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-14 10:20:27
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29915421
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IttyBittyBones/pseuds/IttyBittyBones
Summary: One bad thing after another happens in your life and you're struggling to keep positive when you're suddenly thrust into council housing after struggling to pay rent. You meet plethora of skeletons but they don't seem too keen on letting you live in peace. With all the stress, anxiety and depression piling on top of you, it's only up to time to tell when you'll break.
Relationships: Papyrus (Horrortale)/Reader, Papyrus (Underswap)/Reader, Papyrus (Undertale)/Reader, Sans (Echotale)/Reader, Sans (Horrortale)/Reader, Sans (Underswap)/Reader, Sans (Undertale)/Reader, Sans (underfell/reader
Comments: 7
Kudos: 44





	1. Unfortunate Beginnings

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! My name is Dream and I’m very new to writing fanfics so please forgive me if my characterization is pretty bad, been wanting to do this fic for a while but haven’t gotten around to it. 
> 
> *Mentions/depictions of depression and anxiety in this chapter.  
> *Contains racial discrimination.

It has been 6 years since the monsters have surfaced, reactions from the public initially were mixed. Many wanted ‘the freaks’ gone and few greeted the very large but peaceful monsters with open arms, needless to say the world was chaos for the first couple of years. Things only started to change after countless of monster deaths, riots and strikes were held, eventually resulting in a slightly accepting society that both humans and monsters could co-exist in. Not everything was perfect but it was a huge step up from where it first started and you couldn’t help but be glad about that, being one of the few who were more than accepting of the integration of monsters from the beginning. However, this got you to be shunned by your family and what little number of friends you had, suddenly leaving you alone. At first it was something you could just ignore, the solemn tugging at your heart when you woke up in the morning was weak and nothing of a major bother. But as time went on, you grew more and more desperate for the interaction from friends and affection from family, you felt like you were truly alone in the world. You stopped going out, ate poorly and engaged in self destructive behaviors that eventually affected your work life too. 

It all spiraled when you lost your job. 

No longer having any form of social presence from your job coupled with not being able to pay rent left you at your lowest. You had no one to stay with until you got back on your feet, council housing was the only option you had left to turn to in order to keep off the streets. Thankfully luck was on your side as you were quickly able to find a place to live, though it was in the more monster-oriented side of town. While you didn’t dislike monsters, they typically disliked you. No matter how friendly and kind you have been to them, you always felt like you were treated as a threat. You don’t blame them, you couldn’t. This left you in a tough spot, having to living in the monster community with an already bad reputation just because you’re human, you have to suck it up. Living uncomfortably was much better than living without a roof over your head. 

Today was moving day, your dingy little car was packed to the brim with what little you could bring over to the building complex and whatever you couldn’t take with had to be tossed. Your body slumps forward in the driver’s seat in the carpark, head resting on the steering wheel as a large sigh slips through your lips. You haven't even gotten to unloading yet and you’re already imagining how painful it was going to be to haul all your junk up to the 3rd floor and into the cramped room you now call home. Not wanting to procrastinate any longer, you sluggishly slink out of the car and grab what you could manage to carry and make your way inside. 

Your hopes of not running into anyone on your way up was quickly dashed as a tall and lanky skeleton in orange hoodie and a shorter, rounder skeleton with a vibrant cyan neckerchief blocked the way upstairs. The two were bickering amongst each other over something but quickly stopped when your presence was noticed. You peaked over the boxes in your hold, looking up at the two with a nervous and unsure expression, accidently letting your apprehension show. The taller of the two slightly glared at you but ultimately said nothing. However, his actions spoke for him as a thin bony hand grabbed onto the other’s arm. The tall one clearly didn’t trust you. Much to your surprise though, the one with the neckerchief gave you a warm smile and a wave as he was tugged out of your way. You could see behind those bright baby blue eye lights of his that there was some caution that couldn’t be masked by a friendly demeanor. You opened your mouth to say something but before you could speak, the short skeleton spoke surprisingly loudly, making you jolt on the spot. 

“HELLO HUMAN! Welcome to our complex! I’m the magnificent Blue and this is my younger brother, Stretch!” Blue gestures excitedly with a gloved hand up to his brother who is still holding onto his arm tightly, Stretch’s gaze is piercing so you quickly look back to Blue’s face. “We were told there was going to be a human moving in, didn’t know it’d be so soon!” 

“Hi, I’m ____.. As you can see, I’m pretty new and still need to unpack.” Your grip on the semi-heavy boxes shifts as you give the two a small smile, swallowing the anxious lump in your throat. “I would love to stick around to get to know you both but I think I’ll drop this if I do.” You trail off with a small laugh, inwardly cringing at your awkwardness. You’ve never been a social butterfly but this is still much more awkward than you’re used to, you think because it’s clear you’re not wanted. 

“No problem human- we were just about to leave anyway! I hope unpacking goes well for you!” Blue’s smile lowers a little as Stretch quickly tugs him out of there, the two skeleton brothers making a hasty exit from the building. You could hear them whispering to each other but couldn’t make out what was said, it probably for the best not knowing. 

Now with no more obstacles or monsters in your way, you make quick but painful work of unloading all your garbage into your appointed apartment. You haven’t seen anyone else in the building besides those two earlier but you sure could hear the shouts and loud talking from the other inhabitants, thankfully it wasn’t about you... yet. It was an hour and a half into unpacking your belongings when you heard the shouting of many people that there was a human living in the same building as them. Your stomach dropped near immediately at the negative words being slung around about your kind, you knew this would be hard but it’s even more difficult than you could have ever imagined. You knew some humans were terrible and have done horrible things to the monster kind but you yourself haven’t. With your already low self-worth and crumbling mental state, you feel the hostility is justified and start to sink lower into that pit you’ve been trying to crawl out from. You’re sat on your knees in front of a freshly opened box, staring down at a thinly bubbled wrapped knickknack in your hands, fighting back the tears that threaten to spill over. Just as the water starts to slip from your eyes, a heavy knock on the door startles you out of your head and back into reality. 

“Coming! Gimme a sec!” You yell out to whoever is behind your door, quickly wiping your eyes with your sleeve as you weave your way around unopened boxes and to the door. With your heart beating wildly in your chest, you pull the door open to see... Stretch and Blue? No... Couldn't be? Standing tall in front of you are two _very_ similar looking skeletons to the ones you previously met. Except the shorter one seemed to be tired in comparison to Blue’s excited persona and the taller one looked to be genuinely friendly in quite contrast to Stretch’s abrasive aura. 

“NYEH! HELLO HUMAN! OUR.. COUSINS STRETCH AND BLUE TOLD US YOU HAVE ARRIVED! I’M THE GREAT PAPYRUS AND THIS IS MY LAZY BROTHER, SANS!” You blinked rapidly as your hand was grasped by Papyrus’s much larger one and shook quite enthusiastically, making you worried if your arm would pop out of the socket or not. Cousins? They look far too alike to be cousins but you weren’t really that well versed with monsters to be able to say anything about it, not to mention it would be rude beyond belief. 

“A-ah, hey I’m ____!” You tried your best not to wince when your hand was finally let go, Papyrus put his hands on his hips and beamed down at you. From his stature and height, you couldn’t help but feel very intimidated despite his seemingly nice nature. 

“I met them earlier when I was bringing my stuff up, it’s nice to meet more of my neighbors.” You tried your best to smile happily up at Papyrus and Sans, though faltering a little when you saw Sans’ own lazy smile tighten a little. 

_This is the second time this happened, there’s probably something wrong with you and you can’t see it._

“We don’t have much humans hanging around us you know; my cousins can get kinda rowdy so I hope that ain’t a problem, kiddo.” Sans’ eyes bore into you as he spoke, his body relaxed as he casually stuffs his hands into his blue hoodie’s pockets. Papyrus nodded with a ‘nyeh’ before straightening himself up. 

“IF THEY’RE ANY TROUBLE JUST LET US KNOW! SOME DON’T LIKE HUMANS... BUT I’M SURE YOU’RE A NICE ONE SO THERE WON’T BE ANY PROBLEMS!” Papyrus clapped his hands together and continued to look down at you hopefully, your blood ran ice cold and your stomach flipped. You couldn’t help but feel like you may already be set up to disappoint the poor kind-hearted skeleton, especially when it seemed like Sans already found you to be a threat, he started tugging on Papyrus’s orange sweater. 

“C’mon Paps, we should let the human get settled in and make dinner-” Sans was already backing up to walk off when Papyrus stopped him in his tracks, holding onto San’s shoulder gently. 

“OH MY GOSH, YOU’RE RIGHT SANS! WE SHOULD INVITE THE HUMAN TO DINNER, THEY CAN MEET THE REST OF US!” The tall skeleton looked down at you with the most excitement you’ve ever seen on anyone’s face, you looked absolutely shocked and glanced to Sans to try help get you out of this mess. 

Sans flicked a look to you then back up to his brother, slightly desperate. “Wait that’s not what I sai-” 

“HUMAN YOU ARE INVITED TO OUR FAMILY DINNER, I’LL BE SERVING FRIENDSHIP SPAGHETTI AND YOU CAN MEET THE REST OF OUR COUSINS!” Oh no, there it is. You fate has been sealed within a matter of hours of arriving at the complex. You can either befriend the nice happy skeleton and make every other family member of his loathe you for the rest of eternity or you can make the only friendly one dislike you and have the rest of them potentially hate you less. 

“I- yeah, uhm.. S-sure?” 

_Fuck._ You’ve never been good at turning people down, you take a look at Sans and he seems to be surprised that you said yes as well. Your eyes quickly move to look at his brother, you didn’t think he could get any happier but here he is, over the moon that you accepted the invitation. 

“WONDERFUL! I AM SO EXCITED TO HAVE YOU JOIN US! DINNER SHOULD BE READY IN AN HOUR; WE LIVE ON THE 2ND FLOOR AT UNIT 6!” Papyrus starts to drag away Sans who stumbles behind him a little before forcing himself to relax and follow along. 

The tall skeleton turns to wave you goodbye. “SEE YOU SOON HUMAN!” 

All you could do is just stare at the last place you saw those two, you must have been spaced out for a good couple of minutes before you regained control of your body. Panic and anxiety started to hit you in one big wave as you closed the door and pressed your back up against it, sliding down slowly.


	2. Unwanted Visitor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You are forced by social obligation to attend dinner with the skeleton family, things don't go according to plan but you can't say you're not that surprised.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Characterization for AUs come from personal preference and my own headcannons. If they seem like assholes, that's cause they kinda are... oops. They become nicer later on, I promise. Hope people aren't too upset with the direction I want to take with the fanfic, it's very much self-indulgent lmao

You’re staring into the bathroom mirror at your tired, drained face with little to no idea how you got yourself into this mess. Why didn’t you decline the invitation? Why was it so hard to say no? These questions swirled around your head as you brush your teeth half-heartedly. Going over for dinner at your neighbor's house wasn’t how you wanted to spend this evening, all you wanted to do was get unpacked and sleep for a week. That sounded much more appealing to you than dealing with people who didn’t genuinely want you around. 

\- 

\- 

\- 

While you’re doubting yourself in your own apartment and getting ready, chaos ensues amongst the others once the news of you joining for dinner spreads around the rest of the skeleton family. Stretch is seething in his chair at the dining table while Blue sits nervously next to him, listening to Edge yelling at Papyrus for even daring to invite over a human to their weekly family dinner. Edge’s brother Red is watching in amusement until Sans is forced to step in, getting the tall red and black cladded copy of his brother to back off. 

“Look I’m not happy with it either. It’s already happening, we can’t just un-invite them.” Sans huffed, rubbing his face while Papyrus stands behind him, looking at the others in the room with an upset expression on his features. 

Red scoffs, folding his arms over his chest and sneering over to Sans. “Well, ya could. Don’t gotta be nice, classic.” 

“WE ARE _NOT_ UNINVITING OUR GUEST!” Papyrus shouts out while leaning forward; Sans shoots an arm in front of his younger brother protectively. 

A small pause followed by a deep, breathy sigh; Sans speaks up once again. “...We’re not revoking the invitation. Might actually be good to get a better read of their weird soul over dinner, something isn’t right about it.” 

“ARGH FINE! BUT I AM NOT GOING TO BE POLITE TO THE _PEST!_ ” Is all Edge spits out before stomping off out the dining room and into the lounge, Red lazily follows his sibling, having nothing better to do while waiting for dinner. There's a shit eating grin on his face, Sans is already worried about how this will play out. 

Stretch gets up from his seat, glaring at the blue-hooded skeleton standing in front of him. “Blue and I aren’t having dinner with that human.” 

“STRETCH!” Blue stands up straight, looking up at his younger brother in utter disbelief. 

“No Blue, I’m not arguing with you. This isn’t going to happen.” 

Blue’s hands ball into fits as he wracks his brain for an excuse, a reason to be able to have this dinner with the human he just met, not wanting to immediately think negatively of you. “That’s not fair! You haven’t even given them a chance yet! They didn’t seem that bad, maybe they’re-” 

“-And all the other humans we met didn’t seem bad either until their true colours came out. You know this first hand- it's why we’re not having dinner with them!” And with that said, Stretch attempts to storm out of the apartment, Blue blocks his path with a stern face. 

“You don’t have to go to dinner but I will. I’m not taking no for an answer, I’m the older brother!” 

The taller of the two stops in his tracks and looks down at his elder’s determined eyes, he clenches his jaw tightly and stares at Blue for a moment. 

“... Fine. I’m not responsible for whatever happens.” Conversation officially over, he pushes past Blue and makes his way back to their own shared apartment on a different floor. Leaving Papyrus, Sans and Blue standing in the kitchen with tension so thick you could cut it with a knife. 

Papyrus clears his throat once he's able to gather his bearings. “You want to help with dinner?” 

“...YES! I would love to aid you in the kitchen, mweh!” Blue seemed to perked back up at the mention of assisting Papyrus and Sans' shoulders relaxed when the scarfed skeleton started to smile again. He had a soft spot for the variant of himself, Blue was like Paps except a little more vulnerable. 

\- 

\- 

\- 

Back in your household, you’re standing by the front door with anxiety at an all-time high and the want to not show up rising with it. But as you’ve learnt with everything else in your life, running away doesn’t always solve the problem. Not to mention you dressed up fairly nicely (in your own eyes) and it would be a big waste of effort to bail now. It’s time to face the music so you take a deep breath in to center yourself, fixing up your cardigan and flattening out your turtleneck sweater before you begin to pull the door open... Only to find more goddamn skeletons once again. The two are leaving their own home and seem as surprised to see you as you are to see them. 

These skeletons look absolutely terrifying to say the least, the shorter skeleton wore a rugged faded fur lined coat and had a gaping hole in his head. What was the most frightening about this one was only one tiny blood red eye light stared at you, feeling as if he was looking into your very soul as you stood there like a deer in the headlights. The taller boy looked threatening as well just not to the same extent of what you assumed to be his brother (just going by the previous pairs you met), his teeth were twisted beyond belief but had... braces? Could skeletons even get braces? Well, you guess they could after seeing it for yourself. 

“HellO thErE huMan!” The skeleton with the braces greeted you with mildly wobbly speech though his tone was more than friendly, reminding you very much of Papyrus and Blue. 

Once the shorter skeleton was done being startled, he relaxed and so did his eye light it seemed. Going to what you think to be its original size, blown out and taking up majority of the space in the socket. It was a neat thing but still unsettling. 

“Bone-jour kiddo, don’t need to look so rattled, we don’t bite.” 

His voice deep, gravelly and somewhat exhausted sounding. If this was any other scenario you probably would have been scared shitless though you just couldn’t help bursting out laughing. Your hands fly up to cover your mouth in embarrassment soon after but it seems like the one making those bad puns smiled genuinely at the positive reaction he garnered. His brother on the other hand gave him a dirty look, further amplifying your giggles. 

Once you’re able to stop laughing for the most part, you finally respond. “Ahah.. Wow okay- hey guys, I’m ____. Nice to meet you two.” 

“HI ____! I’m Pa- CroOks!” 

You squint a little at Crooks but couldn’t even get a word out before his brother spoke up with a wink in your direction. “I’m Axe.” 

Being socially stunted, you had no idea if you should interpret that wink as flirtatious or not, you opted for not. It makes things less complicated for you in the long run. 

“Well, uh- you guys going for dinner at Papyrus and Sans’ place?” You shuffle out of your apartment, quickly locking the door then turning back to the two anxiously, giving your watch a quick glance. 

Axe nods and Crooks smiles wider. “OF couRse! We NevEr MisS OuT on DinNer!” 

Bless Crooks’ little soul, he seemed pretty excited for tonight while Axe on the other hand looked indifferent to his current plans. “I’m just there for the free food.” 

“Fair enough, well I’ve kinda been invited too-” 

You were cut off by Sans, nudging his head in the direction they were supposed to be going. “Yeah, we know. C’mon.” 

All you could manage to do is mumble a quiet ‘alright’ and trail behind the two, feeling like you were being a third wheel as the brothers casually talk amongst each other. You zoned out on the way there until you stumbled into Axe when he stopped walking, paused in front of the apartment door you were told to go to. 

“Shit- sorry, wasn’t paying attention to where I was walking.” You splutter out in embarrassment; you could feel your face and ears burning. 

Axe was unfazed, having not even budged a bit from the collision. He shrugged and opened the door without knocking. “Eh it’s whatever.” 

The bone boys waltz into the place without a second thought but you awkwardly stay at the outside, watching the two leave you while your chest tightens at the reality of the situation. You’re about to take a step back and abscond, though before you could dare to put that plan into action, Papyrus pops around a corner and smiles brightly. Okay, damn, there goes that opportunity. 

“____! YOU’RE ON TIME! DINNER IS BEING SERVERED!” The friendly skeleton ushers you in and closes the door, leading you to the dining room where his other family members are already sat. Papyrus makes sure you’re settled then rushes back into the kitchen to help Blue with something. 

You look around and see some familiar faces as well as some new ones, the two new skele-boys were definitely people to be worried about. The taller brother (at this point it was safe to just assume they were brothers) wore a nice pristine looking black button up shirt and a cherry red scarf while the other had on a dirty looking mustard yellow and black hoodie with a... collar? Weird flex but okay, you can’t judge people on what they want to wear, you’re a fashion disaster. What they were wearing wasn’t the cause of your concern, it was the predatory glint in the shorter one’s eyes that got you on edge and the deep scowl on the other one’s face did little to make you feel welcome. You felt like a lamb being led to the slaughterhouse as you sat in-between Sans and Axe, positioned directly in front of the strangers you really didn’t want to meet. 

Without you even needing to initiate the conversation, the one in the nice button-up leaned forward and spoke to you. “DO NOT EVEN LOOK IN MY DIRECTION YOU PATHETIC CREATURE.” 

You shrunk back in your chair as far as you could, hands gripping onto the black leggings you were wearing, trying to stop yourself from making a scene by bolting out of there. 

Axe slightly turned to give you a glance on his right before bringing that eye light up to the intimidating male in front of you. “No need to be so _sternum_ , Edge. They ain’t done nothing yet.” Well, at least you learnt the name of one of them without needing you to initiate the conversation. Though, maybe you’re being spiteful because of how he’s treating you but you think the name Edge is stupid. 

“I didn’t hear you call dibs on the flesh bag.” The one in the nasty yellow and black hoodie chuckled, shaking his head, you could see his sockets narrowing at you. You refused to look up from the empty table in front of you. 

Axe took an inhale of breath to speak but got cut off by both Papyrus and Blue bursting in to serve dinner. 

“HELLO HUMAN ____! I’M HAPPY YOU CAME!” Blue boomed out loudly, no longer holding back his voice like he did when you met him originally. His smile was infectious and you couldn’t help feeling slightly less frightened now that more friendlier skeletons came into the room. You offered him a meek wave and polite smile before looking away anxiously. 

Despite all the commotion going on with Papyrus and Blue dishing up for people, you could almost feel everyone’s eyes drilling holes into you, judging you as you mutter a quiet thanks to the chefs. If you wanted to be a bit more positive, you would have said that it’s just your nerves getting to you but it doesn’t seem to be the case this time. You without a doubt are being scrutinized and you couldn’t figure out why. Did you do something? Are you really intruding that much? Many questions bombard your thought process, it’s nearly as loud as the skeleton family chatting- no, yelling at each other. No one bothered to interact with you and you very relieved about it. Everyone else seemed to have more important conversations than dealing with your awkward ass, you prayed that it stayed this way until dinner was over with and you could take your leave without seeming too rude. 

Now with your internal anxiety subsiding enough, you shakily reach out to pick up the fork previously placed next to you and join in on actually eating the dinner prepared. Before you could even get to bring up some of the delicious-looking spaghetti into your mouth, Edge slams his fist on the table. This makes you all but scream in shock and drop what you were doing in an instant, the whole table goes quiet as heads turn to the person who caused the interruption in the first place. 

"I REFUSE TO LET THE DOG EAT AT THE TABLE!” Edge screeches at you, he’s absolutely fuming and looks one step from reaching over the table and throwing you out himself. 

Much to your surprise though, you’re able to speak. “... Excuse me? I’m not a fucking dog.” You tried to stick up for yourself but it didn’t sound like you were even convinced what you were saying was true, you visibly wince. 

The tall skeleton stands up straight, appalled that you would even dare to speak back, even if it was as meek as it was. “THEN WHAT ARE YOU? ALL I SEE IS A PATHETIC WASTE OF SPACE AND FOOD-” 

“Enough.” Now it was Sans’ time to speak up, he looks dead serious and just as angry as Edge- except this time you weren’t the recipient of that look. He has been pretty quiet the entire time but you caught him staring at you when he thought you weren’t looking. 

“THAT’S UNCALLED FOR! ____ IS OUR GUESS AND WE NEED TO TREAT THEM LIKE IT!” Blue cries out, surprisingly sticking up for you as well. You could have sworn your first impression on him was negative but maybe it wasn’t? 

“THEY’RE NOT A GUEST! THEY’RE NOT ON OUR LEVEL, WE CAN’T BE LOWERING OURSELVES TO HUMAN STANDARDS!” Edge points at you with a boney hand, making you flinch in turn. 

Blue is about to retort back when you shoot up out of your chair, making all eyes turn to you in an instant. Some filled with uncertainty- fear even and others full of distrust and dislike. 

“He’s right, I shouldn’t be here.” You state rather calmly even when your heart is racing faster than it ever has, you don’t realize it yet but tears are falling from your eyes. The notably softer of the bunch (Papyrus, Blue and Crooks) are upset over this but no one could get another word in as you made a quick stride for the door. You exited their home in a quiet but rushed fashion, leaving the skeletons in stunned silence. 

“Nice going, you ruined dinner.” Axe chuckled, his clawed hand digging into his unlit eye socket and tugging harshly at the bone. After staring at your soul throughout the entirety of your time in his presence, he had found out a lot of juicy and interesting things. There was going to be a lot to talk about when it came to you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm looking for friends in the Undertale community and some potential rp partners, if you wanna chat or just say hi feel free to add me on discord: Dream~#1414  
> Wishing you all well, stay safe and take care! :3c

**Author's Note:**

> Aaaaaaa hope that this was readable and enjoyable to a few, sorry it was so short ;;
> 
> I'm looking for friends in the Undertale community and some potential rp partners, if you wanna chat or just say hi feel free to add me on discord: Dream~#1414
> 
> Wishing you all well, stay safe and take care! :3c


End file.
